goodbye, columbo

september 16, 1927 – june 23, 2011
no more things.

... well, maybe just one more thing...

from the wall street journal's how peter falk made lt. columbo iconic:

'in every story, falk’s columbo showed us what a grave mistake it was to judge a person by how they dressed, the car they drove, or how much education they had.  every time he brought down one of those rich, highly educated, supremely self-confident, outrageously good-looking murderers, he not only chipped away at our ridiculous notions of what makes a hero, he offered us escape in an entirely different way. falk made us believe, through his deceptively simple performance, that we didn’t have to be rich, well-dressed, or have an ivy league education to be the smartest person in the room…nor did we have to be physically perfect, and the consummate tough guy, to be a man.

we just had to be true to ourselves.'

the multiverse of fringe

fringemap!


click!

PicOfTheDay: GAME OF THRONES

What are your thoughts on this series?

how TV ruined your life

episode 3: aspiration



via open culture

star trek commercial in germany

♪♪fly me to the moon♪♪♪



via the bad astronomer

burnett trek

i love star trek -- i love carol burnett.... so, obviously:

bash

i remember seeing this episode of west wing years ago, but this segment is making the rounds lately, and it's very good.

DSLRTV

the season finale of 'house' was filmed with canon's 5D mii dslr and various lenses, most especially the 100 mm f/2.8 macro USM.



wish wish wish wish

©2010 toomanytribbles

'i'm just a bill': the joe biden remix

via salon:

a fan's architectural drawings of sitcom homes

very cool!

the flintstones home:


click pic to source and more familiar homes!
via boingboing

tauron is ancient greek on 'caprica'

i was picking up greek phrases in the first episodes of caprica, such as 'adelfe mou' (my brother) 'yia mas' (to our health), 'nothos' (bastard), 'aima anti aimatos -- h diki ton tauronion' (blood for blood -- tauron justice), etc... with a strange american-sounding accent, mind you, so it's hard to discern some individual words. after googling around a bit, i fell on bear mcreary's battlestar galactica blog.

apparently, i'm right.

not-so-famous-quotes xiii

'i hate to break it to you but there is no big lie. there is no system. the universe is indifferent.' - donald draper, mad men, S1

no, i haven't seen this series... i just fell on the quote, and i like it.

never-aired alternate star trek pilot

with kirk declaring... 'but now a new task. a probe out into where no man has gone before.'



CBS will release this version on december 15th.

'this version of "where no man has gone before" was completed in 1965 and features archived footage that was not included in the pilot episode ultimately broadcasted. never-before-aired, this newly recovered version is believed to be what was originally screened for NBC, and the basis for their decision to broadcast STAR TREK®. ... "when we first discovered the original film print existed, we jumped at the chance to give STAR TREK fans the opportunity to add this never aired pilot to their collections," said ken ross, executive vice president and general manager of CBS home entertainment. "it will be a real treat for fans to see and hear how it all could have begun.'

more information at the live feed. via boingboing

sheldon, wheaton and mee-maw

embedding's disabled, so click to view at source


for stella and koyan

homer's evolution

oldie but goodie:

the opening of V

the opening for the remake of V.



via io9

house on religion

click pic to source
via lolgod

susan sackett on PoI

click pic to source
susan sackett, author of several books, including inside trek, and gene roddenberry's executive assistant for 17 years, chats with d.j. grothe on point of inquiry. she discusses what star trek is truly about -- it was a great podcast to listen to.

i also saw that the post's commentators complain about the latest star trek -- i've posted my review here.

star trek made me an atheist

says nick farrantello at the humanist, beautifully expressing my thoughts, exactly.


click image to source
i searched the whole thing to see if i could find a better bit to quote here, but no, the friendly atheist nailed it:

'when you first watch star trek it’s this campy sci-fi show that occasionally takes some not-so-subtle potshots at religion. at a very young age it made me question the nature of god even to the point of questioning his (her or its) very existence. and it showed me that those questions were okay to pose, that there were other people out there like me, asking the same questions. but then roddenberry’s campy little show goes so much farther. it explores what it means to be human. it is a message of hope for the future of our species and an expression of pride in all of humanity. through it, i learned that although people aren’t perfect, it is that striving to be better (the voyage) that makes us special. the show helped me realize that i control my own future—me, a speck in the universe. i began to understand that each and every person posseses potential, that within all of us there is the seed of greatness waiting to be nurtured, and that someday we may each be able to tap into that potential greatness, that…humanity. (i hope you read that last line the way shatner would have.)'
- nick farrantello

take time to read the rest.

it's not ok to dismiss star trek as a cheesy space opera and to liken it to star wars and today's computer generated space battles. if you want stories you can really sink your teeth into, watch the original series and the next generation.

john denver interviews carl sagan on the tonight show

thanks, pat.